Chapter 3
United
Dear mother and father. It was so nice to finally hear from you. I know it’s been a while since I moved to Ponyville, and I’ve been very busy with my studies. But recently I’ve had less going on, and I must say your invitation to visit could not have come at a better time! Me and Spike would be delighted to stay for a couple days.
See you soon!
Lots of love,
Twilight Sparkle
Satisfied with her letter, Twilight glanced briefly out the window. Cloudy. “Good thing I have that umbrella hat that Pinkie gave me.” Twilight then called up the stairs to the still-sleeping dragon. “Spiiike! Time to get up!” A muffled voice answered her. “mmfff. Go ‘wayyy. Lemmesleep.” “Spike,” Said Twilight. “I know it’s early, but we need the early start. We’ve got a lot of cleaning up to do, and I want to pick up some more quills and ink this morning too. We need them if we want to make a ‘cleaning the library’ checklist. Come on, rise and shine, number one assistant.” Her words had no effect. The unicorn decided to change up her tactics. “OK Spike, you rest up. I’ll just get Owlowiscious to help me...”
THUMP THUMP THUMP. The small purple dragon now sat on the bottom step as he glared at Twilight. “That’s not fair.” “I’m sorry Spike, but I couldn’t think of any other way to get you up.” “You coulda tried ‘please’...”
*****
Half an hour later both pony and dragon left the treehouse library and began heading in the direction of the post office. Twilight was wearing her umbrella hat, and spike was so wrapped up in the endless checklist that he looked like a tiny dragon mummy.
As they neared the post office, Twilight noticed that the blinds were still drawn and the sign that hung in one window clearly read ‘closed’.
“Hmm...” said Twilight. “I wonder why it’s not open. I also haven’t hardly seen anypony today.” “Maybe...it’s a holiday?” Twilight shook her head. “It can’t be, none of my three calenders have today listed as any sort of holiday.” Spike looked taken aback. “Why do you have three-” “Well, what if one’s wrong? It doesn’t hurt to be cautious Spike.” “Fair enough. It’s probably just Ditzy Doo forgetting what time it is again. That pony can be such a loopy filly sometimes.”
Spike rolled his eyes. “So what do we do until the post office opens?” They both thought for a moment. Then Twilight had an idea. “I know! Let’s go to Sugarcube Corner. I could use a treat or two.”
*****
As they headed towards Sugarcube Corner, Twilight began seeing ponies here and there. Most of them looked disheveled and tired. “Gee, it looks like a lot of ponies are sick around here,” she mused. “Wonder what’s going around?” “Ponies?” Spike finally managed to unwrap himself from the miles of checklist.
He took one look at all the ponies following them, and with a tiny shriek, latched himself to Twilight’s leg. “T-t-t-Twilight? Do you have any idea where we are?” “Uhh, Ponyville? Why? What’s gotten into you Spike?” “No, I mean yes, we are. But, we’re also in the middle of a horde of ZOMBIE PONIES!” “Spike, we’ve been over this before. There’s no such thing as-AH!”
The breath was forced from her body as one of the nearby ponies charged, knocking her to the ground. The colt was on top of her in seconds. Spike dove towards the two writhing ponies, looping his arms around the attacker’s neck. “Spike!” Yelled Twilight. “Get this thing off of me!” “I’m trying! It’s too strong.” He was pulling with all his might, but despite his best efforts, the pony’s snapping, gnashing teeth were slowly drawing closer towards Twilight’s exposed neck...He couldn’t stop it, it was going to bite Twilight...
A loud explosion almost deafened pony and dragon. Spike felt the pony grow still. “Twilight?” “I’m OK. What happened to the other pony?” They looked down at the perfectly round hole in the pony’s cranium. “TWILIGHT! SPIKE! GET THE HEY IN HERE!” They both turned to see Pinkie Pie, still clutching the smoking magnum in both hooves. “ARE YOU DEAF?!” She screamed as the rest of the ponies began stumbling towards them. “I SAID GET IN HERE!” Twilight and Spike didn’t stop to argue, both rushing inside Sugarcube Corner. “Use your magic! Help me block the door!”
Twilight acted quickly, using her powers to nail empty box slats over the widows while Spike and Pinkie shoved furniture in front of the doors. Once they were sure all entrances were secure, all three slumped against the wall, completely exhausted.
“Thanks Twilight,” said Pinkie, blowing strands of mane out of her eyes. Twilight had so many questions. “What on earth is happening here? Where did you get that weapon? And where are Mr. and Mrs. Cake?”
Pinkie’s hair deflated instantly. “Well, I’m not sure. These zombie ponies started showing up early this morning. Mr. Cake went out to get the milk, and the milk pony bit him.”
“Told you they were zombies.” Said Spike. “Quiet Spike. So where are the Cake’s now?”
Getting up, Pinkie walked to the back window. “Out there.” Twilight looked where she was pointing, and saw the two freshly dug graves. “Oh Pinkie...” “I know. I didn’t see it coming either. We thought Mr. Cake was going to be fine. But after about ten minutes he started complaining about a stomach ache. I should’ve seen it coming. But before I could do anything, he’d already attacked and...eaten Mrs. Cake. I...I had to kill him.”
“And...the weapon?” “Oh, the gun? Well, about a week ago I got wiggly-nose/cross-eyes/knee-knock combo. I’d never had that twitch before. I knew something really bad was going to happen. Something dangerous. Something...evil. I always try to be prepared. But, how do you prepare for something like...like...this?!” Tears streamed down Pinkie’s face.
“Pinkie. You did what you had to do. Now, I’m not saying I believe that these are zombie ponies, but IF they are, then we need to stick together to survive. Now, it looks like you could use come cheering up. How about we all go into the kitchen and have some cupcakes?”
Pinkie gave Twilight a small smile as some of the curl returned to the tip of her mane. “I’d like that a lot. Oh, and Twilight?” “Yes Pinkie?”
“Thanks.”